Clive Peeters announces new Sydney store at Belrose

SYDNEY: Clive Peeters has announced it will open a third store in Sydney at Belrose in addition to two sites at Auburn and Casula which were previously Myer Megamart stores.

In a statement released to the Australian Stock Exchange, Clive Peeters managing director, Greg Smith said, confirmed a lease has been secured for a store located at Shop 2.02 within the Homemakers Supa Centa in Belrose.

The Belrose store is expected to commence trading in late October, while the two former Megamart stores will be open in “the September 2006 quarter”.

"We are delighted to acquire these premises in an exciting new up-market shopping centre complex,” Smith said in his statement.

“The North Shore location positions us in an ideal demographic for our premium retail business, and we are expecting the store to be a very strong performer. With a third store in Sydney pre-Christmas 2006, it puts us in a stronger position to leverage advertising and warehousing costs as we enter into the Sydney market for the first time.”

The Belrose store is the company’s seventh new store to be announced since listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in September last year.

Smith refused to comment further on the new store.

The company has forecast operating profit after tax of $12.2 million for the 2006 financial year ending 30 June.